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The Eglinton Crosstown Line was conceived as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, a partially underground light rail line, announced in 2007 by Toronto Mayor David Miller and TTC chair Adam Giambrone. It was part of the Transit City plan, which included the implementation of six other light rail lines across Toronto. The original version of the line would have run from Pearson Airport along Silver Dart Road to Convair Drive. The line would have then turned southwest, bridging over Highway 401 to reach Commerce Boulevard on the other side, where it would run south to reach Eglinton Avenue and the east end of the Mississauga Transitway. The rest of the line would run east along Eglinton Avenue, including a portion along which the proposed Eglinton West subway line would have been built. The line would then cut across the city, intersecting every subway and RT line, except for the Sheppard line.

There were 43 stops planned for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, 13 of which would be underground.[4] Surface stops would be spaced on average 500 metres (550 yd) apart and the underground stations would be 850m apart on average, as constructing numerous underground stops would be costly. The average speed would be 28 kilometres per hour (17 mph),[5] compared with the existing bus routes along Eglinton that have an average speed of 16 to 18 km/h (9.9 to 11.2 mph).[6] The line would terminate at Kennedy Station to the east in Scarborough where it would meet the Bloor–Danforth subway, the proposed Scarborough Malvern LRT and the Stouffville GO train line. The expected cost was $4.6 billion.[7] As a result of provincial funding cuts, construction of the line was divided into two phases: Phase One would end at Jane Street, and Phase Two would terminate as originally planned at Pearson Airport.

Miller's successor, Rob Ford, announced the cancellation of Transit City on 1 December 2010, the day he took office.[8] He redesigned the line and referred it to the "Eglinton–Scarborough Crosstown line", which put the 19-kilometre line along Eglinton Avenue completely underground. The line would then follow a renovated route of the Scarborough RT, thus forming a single line contiguously from Black Creek Drive to McCowan. The cost would almost double to $8.2 billion and, compared to the original plan, 18 fewer stops were planned. Most of the additional cost comes from putting 12 additional stations underground and for converting the Scarborough RT.

On 8 February 2012, in a special meeting, Toronto City Council, led by Karen Stintz, voted 25–18 to override Mayor Ford's modifications to the project.[9] The vote reinstated the original proposal to only construct the portion between Laird Drive and Keele Street underground while the remainder of the line is built along the surface.[9] On 30 November 2012, the environmental assessment was revised, such that the east tunnel portal location would be moved from east of Brentciffe to east of Don Mills,[10] however this was reversed in May 2013 after receiving community feedback.[11] In January 2013, Toronto City Councillors from Scarborough put forward an alternative plan to proceed with the construction of the Eglinton Avenue portion of the line as planned, but to exclude the Scarborough RT from the line. In July 2013, plans for an "Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown" line were abandoned, thereby reverting the entire line back to its originally conceived plan under Transit City.[12][13]

The Eglinton Crosstown Line will run for 19 km (12 mi) from Black Creek Drive to Kennedy Station.[3] The line will run underground for 10 km (6.2 mi) before rising to the surface east of Brentcliffe Avenue.[14] There will be up to 26 stations, with an estimated 100 million trips annually in 2031.[15] The Presto card will be available for use across the line. The first part of tunnel construction involves the construction of a launch shaft for tunnel boring machines (TBMs) at Black Creek Drive, which began on October 2011. Metrolinx ordered four TBMs at a cost of $54 million on July 28, 2010.[16] These TBMs were expected to commence midtown tunneling in mid-2012.[17] However, the start was delayed to June 2013. The average excavation rate for a single machine is 75 metres (246 ft) a week of lined tunnel.

On 9 November 2011, in Keelesdale Park, Mayor Rob Ford and then-Premier Dalton McGuinty officially broke ground on the new project.[18] In addition, tunnel boring machines have arrived on February 22, 2013 in Keelesdale Park.[19] They are named Dennis, Lea, Humber, and Don. The names were chosen by Jason Paris, a moderator of the Urban Toronto blog and forums. Dennis is named after Mount Dennis, Lea is named after Leaside, Humber is named after the Humber River, and Don is named after the Don River. The names Dennis and Lea combined allude to the poet Dennis Lee.[20][21]

The two western tunnel boring machines, Dennis and Lea started work in April 2013.[24] By April 2014 the TBMs had arrived at Caledonia LRT station.[25] As of early December 2014, both Dennis and Lea arrived at Eglinton West station.[26] Dennis stopped to allow Lea to catch up, such that they would arrive at Eglinton West station at the same time.

On November 12, 2013, MetroLinx awarded a contract to construct the eastern portion of the Crosstown to a joint venture between Aecon Group Inc. and ACS Dragados Canada Inc. to construct the eastern portion of the line between Yonge and Laird.[27] Clearing the site where the two eastern tunnel boring machines, Don And Humber, will be installed, began in March 2014.[citation needed] They are scheduled to begin operation in the summer of 2014, but have been delayed to the autumn of 2014.

A segment of Eglinton will be dug up to extract the tunnel boring machines, when they reach Yonge Street, projected to be in 2016.[24]

In April 2014, Oliver Moore, writing in The Globe and Mail, reported that the two western tunnel boring machines were excavating "approximately 1,000 cubic yards of spoil", per day.[28] The TBMs tunnel approximately 10 metres (33 ft) per day.[29] The tunnels are lined with precast concrete liner segments. Six 2.5 tonne form each ring.

Side platforms on opposite sides of a new pedestrian crosswalk, which will cross Eglinton west of the bridge over Wynford Drive.[33] GO Transit's Richmond Hill line crosses under Eglinton a short diatance to the east, but no contingency has been made for a connection.

Metrolinx intends to use automatic train control on the underground section of Eglinton Crosstown.[41]

On the surface, light rail vehicles will be in dedicated right-of-way transit lanes separate from regular traffic.[5]

On the surface, light rail vehicles will have priority signalling at intersections to ensure certainty in travel times.[5]

Light rail vehicles can travel as fast as 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph). However, actual speed is determined by the spacing of the stops and the speed limits of surrounding road traffic on the surface. Crosstown vehicles will have an average speed of 28 kilometres per hour (17 mph).[5]

The projected ridership of the line is 5,400 passengers per hour in the peak direction by 2031. The capacity of the vehicles is 15,000 passengers per hour per direction.[5]

^Tim Alamenciak (2014-04-30). "Eglinton Crosstown LRT back on schedule, engineer says". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2014-08-03. Retrieved 2015-01-22. “It’s a seemingly simple process that’s actually very high tech,” said Kramer. The first of the two tunneling machines (dubbed Dennis) entered the ground June of 2013 and has made it to Caledonia Rd. from its starting point at Black Creek Dr. The other machine, Lea, is just behind.

^Jack Landau (2013-11-12). "Metrolinx Awards Contract for Crosstown LRT East Tunnel Section". Urban Toronto. Archived from the original on 2014-09-03. Retrieved 2014-10-12. As tunnel boring machines continue to etch their path eastbound underneath Eglinton Avenue from Keele Street for the western leg of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT project, a winning bidder has been announced for the eastern section of tunnel, which will run from Brentciffe Road to Yonge Street, starting just east of the easternmost underground station at Laird Drive.

^Oliver Moore (2014-04-29). "Underground for now, construction proceeds on Eglinton LRT". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 2014-04-01. Retrieved 2015-01-22. Headwalls that will form the box of the stations have been installed at Keele Street and Caledonia Road, and work is under way on one at Dufferin Street. The TBMs go right through headwalls after they have been built, in order to ensure a tight seal, and the two at work in this area are now on either side of what will eventually be the Caledonia LRT station.

^Rahul Gupta (2014-05-09). "Eglinton LRT: Construction activity well underway on both sides of Allen Road". Inside Toronto. Archived from the original on 2015-01-23. Retrieved 2015-01-22. Digging 50 feet below street level, the 81-metre long TBMs nicknamed Dennis and Lea are currently located in the vicinity of Caledonia Road, one of 12 underground Crosstown stations planned for the route. They are expected to reach the Allen later this year, when they will be redeployed beyond Eglinton West subway station to continue the dig east towards Yonge Street.